Sorry, Love
by Yuri's Gone Again
Summary: What if Alice wasn't the innocent little girl she was made out to be? What if she fell in love before falling down the rabbit hole? Pre-Wonderland.
1. Chapter 1

**(Disclaimer: You all know it, I don't own Alice in Wonderland or Through the Looking Glass. I merely own this plot based on those books.)**  
Many have heard of the clichēd story of Alice in her land of wonders. The most-told one of the white rabbit, her kitten Dinah, mad Cheshire Cat, and the beautiful garden that was impossible to get to. Surely you know this story by heart now-- Alice meets countless amounts of insane people in Wonderland, along with a few difficulties, but in the end, she gets to the precious garden, which isn't as fantastic as it had seemed. But what if Lewis Carroll had gotten things wrong in his famous book? What if Alice did not, in fact, go down the rabbit hole on a whim, but on the escape from a broken heart? And what if, instead of becoming the Queen, she became Wonderland's very own Sleeping Beauty...only to never awaken.

First off, Alice was not a little child, as the book had depicted her, but a near-18 young woman. And she did not wear sunny yellow gowns or sky blue dresses either, but deep twilight-colored gowns that bared a scandalous inch of her ankles. Yet one thing that Lewis Carroll had gotten entirely correct was that Alice was a terribly strange girl. The other girls at her private school in Manchester looked down their pointed noses in disdain at the ink she painted carefully on her fingernails (theirs so carefully filed to points-- even better to claw down one another in the social hierarchy that existed even then) and onto her eyelids. Her mother and father complained loudly each time she stepped before them in the drawing room of it but Alice couldn't care less and continued to do so. She would rather suffer for her individuality than be adored for her lies.

She was seated at a local theater, legs draped over the armrest and leaning her back on the other. She watched with an unimpressed stare as the actors and actresses on stage spoke Shakespearean lines. Of love.

Alice scoffed softly to herself. "Love is for fools who have nothing better to do."

"Is that so?" an amused voice drawled from behind her.

She started, then composed herself and looked to her right, over her black-lace-clad shoulder. A boy with surprisingly dark gray eyes looked back at her, with an expectant smirk on his face. Deep black hair—that Alice envied very much—hung partially in front of one of them.

"Yes," Alice answered, giving him a solemn look which was completely ruined by a slight twitch in the corner of her mouth. "It is so."

The boy caught this giveaway and grinned at her. "Would you like to go to dinner with me?"

Alice shrugged, trying to hide the butterflies flitting about in her stomach and the fact that her heart was about to fly out of her chest if it's beating didn't slow. "If you'd like."

**(Sorry there's only a bit written but I lost the file that I had this entire story written in:( So I'll be rewriting this all and adding some soon. Please R&R! Thanks!)**


	2. Chapter 2

The next two months of Alice's life flew by-- each day with the boy(who's name she later learned was Charlie) felt like merely an hour to her. She thought of sleep only as a barrier between her and her boy's time together. Each morning, as soon as she had painted her face and brushed out her long golden hair, she flew down the staircase and the door to meet him at their special place.

After about 5 weeks of this, Alice's mother stopped her from slipping out the door and held onto her forearm. Alice scowled and snatched her arm back, reaching out to rest her hand on the doorknob. "What do you want?"

Her mother's expression seemed pained and Alice let her scowl slide off of her face. "Alice...I'm worried."

"What are you talking about?"

"This boy...Charlie?" Alice nodded. "You've become infatuated, Alice. It's not proper of a girl your age to be so consumed by a boy."

Alice curled her lips again. "I do not see what there is for you to be concerned about."

"He'll only hurt you."

Alice gaped at her mother. "You don't even know him! You've never met him! How dare you assume that about him!"

Her mother opened her mouth to reply, but Alice continued.

"He loves me more than you or Father ever did," she was now shrieking at her.

Alice's mother closed her mouth as she said this, and regarded Alice with icy eyes, shut off from the world once again, as they had been for so long until this morning. "Oh, is that what you believe?"

Alice regretted her venomous words at once but would never let it show. She simply stared back.

Her mother spun on her heels and strode briskly down the hall, off to who-knew-where. "Be off, then. Go. Don't keep your Charlie waiting."

Alice began to turn the knob, paused to look over her shoulder, but her mother was out of sight. She pushed open the door and ran out to the park.

Charlie waited at the stone bench, hands sheepishly under his thighs, looking down. Alice grinned, forgetting the argument between her and her mother. When you were a 17 year old dressed in all black, sitting on a park bench in the middle of the day, you seemed to attract a bit of attention from the "decorous" people of England.

"Hello love," he said, pecking her check as she settled beside him, her black petticoat landing on his leg.

"Hello," she replied, laying her head down on his shoulder contently. "My mother thinks that you will end up breaking my heart." She smiles down at his hand, curled around her own.

Charlie chuckles. "Your mother has no idea what we have."

Alice silently agrees with him; She was hopelessly in love with him and nothing would change that. But a little voice in the back of her head whispered, _Yes, but a love that is this deep and a love that happened this quickly cannot possibly end well. Your mother is right. _

**(Hey kids :P Thanks for the reviews! Sorry it took so long to add more—biology and geometry problems. v.v Hope you like this chapter!)**


	3. Chapter 3

That day, Charlie's father had been attending a meeting with the co-owner of his publishing business. His mother was sleeping an eternal sleep beneath a hunk of stone at Manchester's cemetary.

The two were alone.

"Ah, c'mon love," he whispered into her ear as his hand crept slowly up her back, making Alice's entire body shiver. "He shan't know—no one will." They were seated on the edge of Charlie's bed. Alice's fingers with fumbling clumsily with the brass bars at the end of the bed. Charlie's assurances did not help. A girl who gave up her womanhood to a man before marriage was looked very down upon in those times.

She bit her lip, her fingers still stumbling on the slippery brass bar. "It's—well, I know that no one could possibly find out, Charlie, but...it's my own dignity that I'm struggling with at the moment."

"Off with dignity," Charlie muttered, his hot breath on her neck quickening as he wrapped his arms around her and lifting his hand to turn her head to face him. He stared long into her blue eyes with his own shining gray ones. "Besides, we love each other both very very much. I told you that we would get married next March—a promise, do you remember? Precisely after your seventeenth birthday, as soon as we're able."

Alice nodded, trying very hard to ignore the sweet flighty kisses he kept planting on her lips, her neck, her cheek... "Yes, I remember that."

"Well then, what's stopping you, love?" With that note, he gently pushed her backwards onto the bed and continued kissing her.

Alice wondered nervously if his reasoning was right, or if it was the heat of the room, the moment, the two of them together that had finally pushed him to his limits. For some reason, the second choice seemed more true, although she tried telling herself it wasn't.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alice laid in the bed and chewed on the inside of her cheek, still not sure if the decision she had made had been the right one.Charlie was laying beside her beneath the blankets, quiet while stroking her arm.

"I really," he rolled her over to look into his eyes, as he had earlier. His eyes squinting from the wide smile on his face. The smile didn't seem to fit the situation quite correctly and Alice felt a tinge of doubt.

_You were wrong about him. _

He moved forward and brushed his lips across hers. "And truly," This time he kissed her neck and it felt even more wrong to Alice. "Love you." He finished with a gentle kiss on her forehead.

And although Alice had the sinking feeling in her stomach that this boy was not all he seemed to be, she could not hide that she did, in fact, love Charlie.

"I love you too."

**(Ello guys--so this is when Alice and Charlie...ahem. :P I know, I'm dumb...But anyways, hope you like it! Once again, please R&R! Thanks!)**


	4. Chapter 4

**(Okay, I'm so sorry it took so long for me to update. No excuses here--I'm just plain lazy. Hope you like this chapter!)**

One day on her way out to the garden for a short session of painting, Alice met her mother once again. She seemed to be strolling through the rows of white roses the gardener had planted the year before. There was a look of disdain on her mother's face. She had never liked the color of the flowers and very often remarked to the family that red would have been much more pretty a color.

As soon as she caught sight of her mother, the girl intended on turning right around, but it was now too late--her mother had lifted her head at the crackle of a twig that Alice's heel had crushed.

Her mother simply stood there and gazed at Alice, her expression blank.

"I'll be going," assured Alice, an edge to her voice as she spun to go back into the house.

"No," her mother called out, with the same compassion that Alice had heard in her voice on the day her and Roger finalized their love(because, of course, Alice had to marry him now), a compassion that made Alice turn around and listen. "Alice…come and sit." She held out a frail hand, gesturing to the stone bench that lay in the center of the rose garden.

Alice complied, as much as she wished to go and avoid the inevitable sermon that was ambling dangerously nearer. She sat softly on the bench, laying her canvas and paints on her lap. "What is it you want?"

Her mother glided over the paving stones to Alice, her face giving nothing away. When she at last sat beside Alice, she was still quiet.

Alice sighed. "Mother, I have much better things to do if all you are planning on is sitting in the garden and listening to the wind blow."

Her mother seemed to cringe slightly at her impatient words. "Alice, what made you this way?"

She was surprised at the weariness in her mother's tone and looked up at her, to see what she meant by this. "I don't understand what you are saying."

"What made you so cynical of the world? You are so young," her mother said in a faint voice, with more emotion than Alice had ever heard from her, "I feel that you have grown up too quickly."

"Mother, if this is about the way I dress--"

"No, Alice, I am not talking about your black gowns and painted eyes and fingers…" Her mother reached out to pluck a white rose from a nearby bush. She twirled it in her hands, warily avoiding the small thorns. "To be completely honest with you, darling, I always admired that about you."

Alice started and peered up into her mother's pale blue eyes, searching for the sincerity. "You're not serious, then, are you?" Certain as the grass was green, despite Alice's rigid disbelief of her mother feeling anything besides disappoint in her daughter, her mother's

eyes were wide and staring back at Alice, entirely authentic.

"Yes, Alice, of course I am. I am very proud to have such an independent daughter. Even to the point of envy…I know that I, myself, would never have the gall to be so different from my peers," her mother explained.

Alice was silent, making a poor attempt of understanding everything her mother had just confided to her. After five years of thinking her own mother hated her…it had been jealousy?

"But your cynicism," she continued, "is what worries me about you. You seem to trust no one. Save for that boy Charlie." Her mother hissed his name, as if it were a terrible curse word.

Alice dropped her jaw, prepared to jump to his rescue.

But her mother went on.

"Alice, I am telling you this because if I do not, I am certain that that boy will take more away from you than you could ever get back." Her mother pricked her finger on the rose stem, as she had been spinning it rapidly between her index finger and thumb. A drop of blood spotted the rose, and she dropped it onto her lap. The finger continued to bleed until she pressed thumb firmly onto it. "You cannot let that boy become your entire being, your entire life. When was the last time you spoke to that girl Dinah? I believe you two were good friends, am I correct?" Alice nodded, at a loss for words still. "Or have you chosen that she's not of enough importance to take a few minutes out of your time with beloved Charlie? God forbid you and that boy shall end some day, then what will you have left of your life, Alice?"

This broke Alice out of her trance of staring down at the tainted white rose. _Funny word there, Alice, _a voice in her mind said to her. _Tainted. Like you. _Something inside Alice snapped.

"Stop calling him 'that boy'! He has a name, Mother!" Alice shouted, leaping up off of the stone bench, clenching her hands into fists. "And we are never going to 'end'! We are to be wed next March!"

Her mother stared up at her, with no reaction.

Alice breathed heavily, her heart racing, like it had been on that first night she met Charlie, except this time it wasn't from instant infatuation--it was pure rage.

Then her mother slowly stood up, first carefully lifting the white rose from her lap.

Alice stood still as her mother took a step toward her. She carefully picked off the thorns with her sharply filed nails, seeming to take forever, but Alice kept watching her, curious as to what she was doing now. Then her mother gently brushed back Alice's long hair with one hand while placing the white rose behind her ear with the other.

"Just remember, darling," her mother said softly. "Once he gets what he wants, he'll be off in the blink of an eye."

--

Upstairs, while painting the view from her bedroom window, Alice could not help but dwell on her mother's last words.

_Once he gets what he wants, he'll be off in the blink of an eye._

"She's wrong," Alice murmured, mixing red and blue to make a deep, grayish shade of purple. "It's been more than a week since we've…" she trailed off, unsure of the right word to say. "…and he's been ever as endearing. Ever as perfect." She paused from her painting, staring out of her window, her eyes becoming glassy.

Alice smiled, her eyes becoming sharp once again.

She continued to recollected her mother's words from earlier.

_When was the last time you spoke to that girl Dinah? I believe you two were good friends, am I correct?_

Alice had completely forgotten about Dinah. Her mother was somewhat right; she had been spending so much of her time with Charlie that she had forgotten every other aspect of her life. They had been the best of friends since they had met at school during grade six. The way they met was through their willingness to go against the grain.

_Alice shuffled down the hallway, clutching a handful of her black laced skirt to keep it from the ground(back then, Alice did not wear dresses to short to be acceptable, but too long), which was going against the current fashion of colorfully printed muslins. Several of the schoolgirls laughed shrilly as she walked by, and she caught a whispered "She looks like an apprentice witch!" and the response: "Ugly as one, too!"_

_Just as a tear was pricking at her eye, she felt a rough tap on her shoulder. She looked -behind her to see a short girl, who, despite her lack of height, seemed much older than Alice. She had an out-dated dress on, one that had been in fashion a decade ago but certainly not now and messy orange hair that came down in large ringlets and wide unapologetic green eyes. _

"_Hello," she said. "They're the true witches." She gestured to a group of girls who were watching them with narrowed eyes. She grinned at Alice. "My name's Dinah."_

"_I'm Alice," she said timidly._

"_Oh, you're a shy one, are you?" Dinah said, her grinning growing wider. "You shan't be when I'm through with you."_

And it was true, Alice thought, expressing a grin that exactly mirrored Dinah's. When Alice had first become friends with Dinah, she had been sheltered from the world and was told that little girls were better seen than heard. But Dinah had taken Alice under her wing and shown her the begging children on the west side of town, the slums, where her parents had never even let her know had existed. Dinah had shown her that it was possible to speak out once in while, or more often than that, and leave quite an impression on most people she met. True, perhaps it wasn't always a good impression, but it was a lasting one.

Alice could hardly believe she had abandoned Dinah for nearly three months of their summer holiday. Her mother had been spot on about that. Well, this forgetting of Dinah was ending today. Alice set her paints on her writing desk and made her way out the bedroom door. She was off to see Dinah.

_--_


	5. Chapter 5

**(I worked double time to make up for my lack of updating my story. :) Please r&r! )**

"Ah, you absolute wench!" cried out Dinah from a window of her home the minute Alice walked through her gate. People taking an afternoon stroll on the sidewalk by Dinah's house craned their necks to stare at the freckle-faced redhead cackling from the upstairs window, but she paid them no attention and didn't lower her voice. "I should tell you now that I had decided ages ago to hate you with all of my being so there's really no point in calling!" Despite what Dinah was shouting, she swiftly threw her leg outside the window and onto the edge of the house, did the same with the other, and proceeded to make her way down.

A woman passerby sounded out with a loud gasp. "What in heaven's name is that young girl _doing_?"

Alice could hardly keep herself from laughing at such a welcome.

Dinah jumped off the side of the house as soon as she reached around three feet above ground and loped to Alice before flinging her arms about her neck. "'Tis high time you've come to pay me visit, Miss Alice!"

Alice giggled and reached out to lock arms with Dinah as they strolled into her house.

--

Dinah chattered on and on as she made tea and brought out a few biscuits: "Well, I was determined to be positively horrid the next time I caught sight of you but here we are and I'm fine once again! Oh glory, the moods of a woman…God save the men, eh, Alice? Speaking of men, I see that glow, Miss Alice! Who is he? I suppose he's a handsome one, yes? And, of course, it's quite serious, or you wouldn't have left me to twiddle my thumbs for this long. Tell me every last bit, you dreadful girl!" At this point, Dinah seemed to tire out and she pushed a cup of tea at Alice. She took a seat, laying her chin in her hand, smiling at her.

Alice smiled a small smile back, taking a sip of tea, thinking of what to say. "Well…his name is Charlie. I met him at the theater. We get along quite well--we've never had a row."

"Very good, very good…" Dinah took a bite of her biscuit, chewing thoughtfully. "Now, how resolute is it?"

Alice blushed. "Ahm, I suppose very."

Dinah's eyes widened and she slammed her tea cup down on its saucer, spilling tea all over the table. "For goodness' sakes! Have you talked of marriage yet?"

Alice smirked and shrugged her shoulders. "Well, we're engaged, if that's what you mean."

Dinah's eyebrows shot way up. "You're pulling one on me, aren't you! You can't possibly be telling the truth!"

Alice laughed in disbelief. "How difficult is it to wrap your mind around little Alice being engaged?"

Dinah jumped up to fetch a rag from the wash basin. "Very!" She returned to the table and patted at the spilt tea. "I tell you, the mere idea of marrying a man horrifies me! I'm society's worst nightmare--instead of dreaming of a beautiful wedding, I dream of living and dying an old maid."

"Well now, hold on just a minute, Dinah," Alice said, knitting her eyebrows. "If I remember correctly, you've had quite a few lovers."

"The key word there, dear, is 'lovers'. Not proper husbands-to-be's and all that."

It was the truth, and it was a bit sad that in all of Dinah's twenty-one years she had never been in love. Although, as she said, she had never wished to be. Alice supposed all that mattered was that she was happy. And happiness was one thing you could certainly accuse Dinah of.

"So," Dinah said, softening her tone and sitting back down in her chair, "where is this young Charlie? When shall I be meeting him,?" She noted Alice's puzzled expression and clicked her tongue. "You can't really be thinking that you are going to marry this gent without my seeing and judging him on my own, now?"

"Ah, well, how could I have been so foolish?" Alice murmured, finishing off her tea. She leaped up and reached across the table to grab hold of Dinah's sleeve and pulled her behind her to the door.

Dinah stumbled for a moment then straightened herself up, grinning. "This boy had better be one of the best of Manchester, for my dear Alice."

Alice smiled a smile so large that it reached up to her eyes. "Dinah, he truly is."

--

Dinah studied the house as Alice knocked loudly on the door. She put on a blank expression as footsteps thumped in the house, nearer and nearer to the door.

The door swung open and revealed Charlie, his hair stuck up in all sorts of places, his clothing rumpled. He smiled with tired eyes at the two girls. "Hello there Alice." He looked over at Dinah. "Hello."

Alice stepped forward to allow Charlie to kiss her hand. "Charlie, this is my good friend Dinah. When I told her of our engagement, she insisted on meeting you."

He looked over at Dinah expectantly.

Dinah smiled. "I don't curtsey, sir."

His smile depleted a bit from his eyes, it seemed, but the grin stayed plastered on his face. Dinah noted this all. "Ah, yes, I wouldn't expect you to…well, it's a pleasure to meet one of Alice's friends. I apologize for my sorry state, I was just taking a small nap."

Dinah nodded slightly, her eyes haughty as she looked Charlie over with a cold stare.

Alice observed this bad behavior on Dinah's part and nudged her elbow into Dinah's arm. "Dinah, don't frighten Charlie." Alice added a small laugh, unsure of what to do. Dinah was usually friendly with everyone she met.

Dinah let her features relax a bit, and let a small grin shine through. "Forgive me, Charlie, but I must be sure that the man my dear Alice has chosen as her husband is as wonderful as she says."

Charlie smiled back at Dinah. "I do hope that measure up."


	6. Chapter 6

**Well here is Chapter 6. It's short, I know, and took like a week or two, but I had think hard to...heehee. No spoilers here, I'll shut up now. R&R please, anything would be appreciated.**

The three of them decided it would be nice to go out for lunch to a nearby bistro that Dinah was piling compliments on.

While waiting for Alice to select from the menu, Charlie and Dinah got into a small controversy about Dinah's belief that there was no certain man out there for her. Charlie, on the other hand, was a firm believer in fate.

"You can't be telling me that, in this entire world, for your entire life, you think that you will never find a man who will suit you?" Charlie exclaimed, his eyes incredulous, leaning forward to stare at Dinah.

"Well, yes I am telling you," Dinah spouted back, waving her hand as she spoke. "The truth is, Charlie, no man could possibly handle me."

Alice grinned, knowing very well that that may be true. Dinah had very high standards for men, and judging by those standards, Dinah's husband would have to be some sort of rebellious, extremely sharp, Greek god. Try finding a young man fitting that description in Manchester. Scratch that, try all of England. You would still never find him. "She's got you there Charlie--Dinah has deterred many a man."

Charlie seemed to be a bit fazed by this teaming up on him, but he recovered quickly. "Well there you are! You're putting them all off! No man wants a witch for a wife!"

Dinah's eyes narrowed. "Now you stop right there--no one said a word about being a witch!" She seemed to calm herself for a moment, and took a sip of water. "I simply won't settle for less than what I deserve. And you're gender hasn't been offering much of the impressive sort." She snorted. "Alice knows! Tell 'im, Alice!"

Alice stared at down at her napkin in her lap thoughtfully. She lifted her head. "Alright then--there was the bloke who tried to…well, he had dishonorable intentions. Then there was the boy who pocketed all of your gold and later that week you spotted it at the pawn shop. And there was that boy who, we later all discovered, including himself, liked other boys."

Charlie raised his hand for her to stop. "Fine, fine, fine then, perhaps you haven't had the best of luck…but it seems to me that you are very defensive when it comes to men. I think your main problem is that you merely don't want to fall in love. I promise you, that if you don't give up, you will find someone that is perfectly perfect for you and you'll fall in complete and utter love."

The words were heartwarming to Alice, for she fancied that they were about how he felt about her.

"Yes, Dinah, I really do agree with Charlie," Alice added. "When you find someone who you love and loves you in return, as it is with Charlie and I, you will want to be forever bound to each other in an instant."

Dinah snorted. "Long shot that one is."

Charlie chuckled. "Ah, Dinah…you're a stubborn one, you are. I like that. Just don't get to set in your ways or it will be hard for you to ever welcome a man into your life."

"Charlie, you are persistent. I like that," returned Dinah, "but I hardly believe a word you're saying."

Alice laughed, her blue eyes twinkling. They were bickering, all right, but they were getting along; she knew them both well enough to know that they enjoyed debating like this. If they had disliked each other, they would have behaved too arrogant to participate in such lively banter.

Meanwhile, the wheels in Dinah's head spun with excitement. _He's perfect!_

She leaned over the table to softly strike Charlie's arm in a mock blow. Alice was too far off in her own thoughts to see Dinah's hand linger a second too long on Charlie's forearm.

Charlie's head snapped up from his plate to see the redhead's delighted grin spread ear-to-ear.


	7. Chapter 7

A few days later, Alice had dragged Dinah to a tailor to get dresses made for an upcoming ball at her mother's friend's home. It was still a fortnight away, but Alice was one who liked to get things done quickly, when possible.

Dinah had protested when Alice showed up at her doorstep, waving a small bag. "We're going to Monsieur Doman's today!" Monsieur Doman was a Frenchman who had been Alice's tailor since she was a small girl. He was costly, but he was also one of the best in all of England.

Dinah's eyes had grown wide as she shook her head. "Alice, love, I've got to be off to a friend of mine's--"

"Who?" Alice folded her arms over her chest and Dinah knew then that there was no point in trying to talk her way out.

She sighed. "But, Alice, you know I don't want you to spend that sort of money on me, it's just not--"

"Oh, but please, Dinah? I want to atone for not seeing you for so long," Alice whimpered, batting her eyelashes at Dinah. She knew Dinah had a weakness for groveling.

Sure enough, Dinah's stature drooped, signaling her defeat. "Fine. But--" Alice hooked her arm through Dinah's and began to make her way down the pathway, to the sidewalk, Dinah hurrying beside her. "--but, we've got to be settin' a limit here--nothing too _pricey_, you hear, little Miss Alice?"

Alice waved her hand. "Dinah, it's fine. I want us to have absolutely breathtaking dresses, and if that'll cost a pretty penny, then so be it."

Dinah grimaced and bit her lip. "Oh love…you know that I despise having money spent on me. Especially when I have none to repay you with. You know the job industry hasn't exactly been my best friend lately…"

"Oh, like I give a rat's ass." Dinah's eyes shot wide open. Although she had tried her best to form an outspoken and unconventional woman out of the younger girl, Alice's noble upbringing often kept her from being too outrageous. Hearing Alice swear was a rarity. "Shut up and come on."

And with that, Alice took advantage of Dinah's shocked state and yanked her in the direction of Monsieur Doman.

--

Monsieur Doman nearly fainted the moment Dinah and Alice stepped over his threshold. (Well, in actuality, Alice stepped, and Dinah was pushed.) "Alice!" He rushed over to where they were standing and touched her hand to his lips, along with Dinah's. "It's been so long since I've had the pleasure of seeing you in my humble little shop! Oh, darling, how are you?" He smiled warmly at her, speaking with a lilting French accent, and did not wait for a reply. "And who is this feisty young ginger you've brought with you?"

Dinah's eyebrows twisted as she stared at the man. She had never met another soul like him.

Alice grinned, remembering why she just adored Monsieur Doman: he was somewhat like an even more avant-garde, male version of Dinah. "Well, Monsieur Doman, this is my _very _good friend, Dinah."

"Dinah! Lovely, just lovely, aren't you?" He began to pace around her, looking her over. "Oh, I'd say you're about a sixty-four waist, and hmm, let's see, a sixty-eight…" he trailed off, murmuring to himself about Dinah's measurements. Then he looked up and rolled his eyes, still smiling. "Let's just let my workers here do your measurements. Now, Dinah, you are quite a rare fire-haired beauty. Not much people in my profession particularly enjoy dressing redheads, but I have to say, I am one of the few that do! What would you exquisite girls have in mind for me today?" He looked at Dinah expectantly.

Dinah gaped, a bit taken off guard. "Ahm, she--Alice is--" She gestured to Alice.

"Monsieur Doman, we would like to have dresses made--for the ball at Mr. and Mrs. Dixon's."

"Oh, fantastic, I have just the colors for you two," called out the man as he swept away to the back of the shop. Two women peeked over the surface of a desk off to the side of the girls and hurried to them to take their measurements. They then took notes of them on a piece of parchment on the desk.

"How long does this usually take, Alice?" asked Dinah warily.

"Oh, I can't be exactly certain," chirped Alice--she had always enjoyed going to the tailors to get a new dress made. "Maybe an hour or two?"

Dinah groaned and squeezed her eyes shut.

--

Meanwhile, back at Charlie's home, the young man paced upstairs in his room, stopping every minute or so to peer out of his window at the street before it. He had been doing this for an hour now.

One last time he went to the window and scrutinized the area in front of it. No sign of her. He cursed himself under his breath.

_This was an absolutely ludicrous idea, _he scolded himself. _Where d'you suppose she is now, going off to snitch on you to Alice?_

Charlie sighed and went to sit on his bed, dropping his head into his hands.

_In all honesty, you know you would deserve it if she did. What kind of man are you to take such a thing as that poor girl's purity and then go on after her friend the minute her back is turned? _

He shut his eyes and tried to keep out the guilt, although there wasn't much of it. Charlie wasn't a very remorseful person.

The night after their meal at the bistro, Dinah had showed up on Charlie's doorstep, looking a bit nervous, and puzzled.

_He had merely stood there, staring for a while. "Yes?"_

_Dinah took an orange curl in between her fingers and began to spin it. "Ahm, yes, Charlie. Hello. Well, I don't plan to make a long production of this: I am quite fond of--well, no, let me put it bluntly--I adore you. Quite a bit, actually. More than I have ever liked a man before. I wanted to inform you of that, to keep in mind, because I don't think I could stand it if I let you marry Alice without ever knowing if…being with you was a possibility."_

_Charlie blinked, and the bright-haired girl winced as if it had been a slap. He had found it quite endearing, although he could not for the life of him, decipher why. "It could be."_

_Her eyes had brightened and Charlie got a rush from that. He had forgotten about how he had committed himself to being with Alice by his proposal. Before he had met Alice, he was notorious in his side of town for chasing after the young women and then forgetting them as soon as he "caught" them._

_The feeling he got, of completely having the advantage, from Dinah practically laying herself at his feet for sacrifice, was one he had missed from his old days, before Alice. He knew that no matter what, from now on he would have her wrapped around his little finger._

He opened his eyes, a mirthless smirk taking its usual place on his face. He had told Dinah to come back tonight.

_That Dinah was quite a charming woman. Quite different from anyone you have ever met before. She is much more interesting than that Alice…Really, do you even want to marry that little girl? Alice is quite a lovely-looking girl, but she's a bit childish. Ever since you two went on with it, she has been clinging onto you like a lifeboat. You are merely twenty-three. Do you truly want to give up everything to wed a spoiled seventeen-year-old playing dress-up as if she's anything unique?_

Charlie groaned, rubbing at his eyes, struggling to decide. But he knew the answer the entire time:

_Deep inside, you know that the whole proposal had only been a part of the method of getting her to take her dress off, don't you._


	8. Chapter 8

**Whoo, it feels good to actually be near the end of a story! Y'see, I don't usually finish my stories so this is very near a miracle for me. Hope you like the chapter! ;D**

Alice was lying upstairs in Charlie's bed the next night, all anxiety of him not being as great a boy as she thought swept away with each time he looked deep into her eyes with those sparkling gray ones of his and cooed sweet nothings.

Although these sweet nothings felt very much substantial to her, Charlie was simply hoping she would lose that silly little frown that had been tugging at her lips all evening.

It was late at night, near morning she supposed. She had slinked out of her house to come and see him. She planned on persuading him to attend the ball at the Dixons' with her. When she had initially brought it up, he had stood firmly at "No" but she thought she could change his mind if she twisted his arm a bit.

"Oh, Charlie, darling," she whispered into his ear, as to not awaken his father. "D'you remember that ball I told you about?"

His chest stiffened, like he had paused mid-breath. "…yes," he finally said.

"Well, it's nearing, and you know how I love to dance," she murmured.

He made a sound that was a mixture of a muffled groan and a sigh, and loosened his hold around her waist, his breath making the hair hanging around her neck flutter frantically. "Yes…I know."

"Wouldn't s'pose you'd want to go, then, would you?"

He let out that discontent sigh and relented a bit: "It depends, love."

She turned her head to look over her shoulder at him, a small smile playing up the corners of his mouth. Her mouth turned up into a smirk, in concordance with his. "On what, love?"

"On what I receive in return."

Alice's smirk broke into a complete silently-laughing grin. "Oh, I think we can make an arrangement."

Charlie let out a small chuckle and held her closer. "I love you, you awful girl."

And the golden-haired girl rolled over to wrap her arms around the young man with grown out black hair that partially covered his laughing gray eyes; because of this, she couldn't see the lethargic blur in his eyes, as if he just wanted to put away all of the meaningless words for the night.

"And I love you, you horrid boy."

--

It was later that week, and Alice was out at Monsieur Doman's, fetching her and Dinah's newly made dresses. They were gorgeous shades of lilac ("for the breathtaking fiery-haired woman you brought in on Sunday") and sky blue ("a nice change from the constant dark frocks for my favorite fair-haired beauty"). After doing so, she struggled through going down the walk of the street, carrying the two large boxes with some difficulty, but telling herself that she needed the right petticoat to go with such a bright material--all she had were black ones. Although Alice despised bright colors and the falsity of it all, she _did _have good fashion sense.

After hunting through the top clothing stores in town, she settled for a tulip-yellow petticoat, which's color she did not entirely adore, but it would have to do, for everything else was simply too colorful and gaudy for a girl like herself.

She toiled back on the way to her home to unload the products of her day's work in her room. She distinctly recalled Charlie saying he was off to visit his mother's sister and would not be back in Manchester until tomorrow afternoon. She sighed, unhappy to spend even a day without the boy. When someone made you feel as if you were walking on air as this young man did for Alice, you would not have liked to be away from him either.

_Well, what about Dinah?_

It had been for so long since Alice was left idle that she could not stand to stay at home and paint or read--such passive activities no longer interested her.

_No, she's not accessible either--off searching for a job in central Manchester. The money from her father, who was currently off with the Queen's army in London, was swindling down to a dangerously low sum._

Alice frowned and collapsed onto her bed, crossing her arms childishly. "Well, what else is there to do?" she grumbled to herself.

_Perhaps I'll go down to the park, then. Go and sit at Charlie and I's bench; stargaze, I suppose._

With a new purpose for the evening, Alice triumphantly stood from her bed and made her way down the stairs and out the door.

_--_

She walked slowly through the five minutes it took to get to Aceharts' park, savoring each wasted minute of her eventless night.

When she arrived at the edge of it, still quite a ways from the bench she was heading for, she spotted a young couple already occupying it. Alice would have to go a small distance farther to the next bench, but she was perfectly fine with that.

She smiled to herself as she neared the young man and woman, wrapped in each other's arms, reminding her of how she and Charlie must have looked on their many days there. So happy, so at ease, so in love.

And then she saw the tuft of orange hair poking at the young man's chin, coming from his lover's head laying on his chest.

From there she noticed the boy's rudely too-long midnight-colored hair laying over half of his face, in a fashion that was very much similar to Charlie's.

All this she saw from merely the light of the rising full moon, shining brighter than ever that night, but already she knew for certain:

This was Dinah and Charlie.

--


	9. Chapter 9

Alice's breath caught in her throat and she stood there, not wanting to believe.

Time passed slowly.

Her heart counted out the seconds slowly to her in her ears, like a pendulum.

_Thump…_

_Thump…_

_Thump… _

Perhaps her heartbeat's tremendous echoing had reached somehow through the suddenly still night air to them; perhaps they heard the small choking sound that crawled from her throat as a sob threatened to release itself to only find it had no oxygen to do so; or perhaps it was all by chance that the two of them looked up to find her right then.

The rest proceeded like a dream--incredulous and much slower than reality.

Charlie leaped up, causing Dinah to be shoved off of him and to support herself on the bench. She sat there, wavering a bit, as he rushed to Alice. "Alice! Love! I am so sorry! I was just…"

Alice was silent, listening carefully to each resonating word, almost hoping he had some sort of passable excuse.

She waited as his mouth continued to move, like a fish's, making no sound. She vaguely worried that her hearing had gone off along with her sense of time until she realized he had nothing to say.

A burning presented itself in her lungs and she reminded herself to breathe. With her inhalation, the words came also. "How could you." They were a mere whisper, but it was a start.

Dinah sheepishly stood, her head bowed as she approached the two. It was the first time Alice had ever seen her like this and for some reason it disgusted her. "Alice, I'm truly sorry…but how can I fight love?"

"Love?" Alice repeated, disbelieving.

Charlie looked on nervously, his right hand reaching up to stroke back his hair, for once revealing his eyes to full sight; they were wide with anxiety, as if Alice were near a boiling point.

"Erm--yes, love," Dinah went on hesitantly, grabbing her hands nervously to fiddle with her fingers. "Your Charlie is the only man I have ever felt this way about before."

"_Your Charlie"…_

Alice blinked at her. "How could you, Dinah?"

Perhaps it was the quiet unbelieving tone to her voice that was too much for Dinah.

Tears welled up in her pleading green eyes and she brushed them roughly away with the back of her hand. "Alice, dear, I can't--I just can't--darling, I can't stand to see you like this. If you wish to have at me, I'll be despising myself in my home." She stepped forward swiftly to peck Alice's cheek, and it wasn't until then that Alice realized it was wet with her silent tears. "I'm so sorry. I never should have done this. I'm sorry."

With that, the weeping young woman swept off into the night, her wails trailing off until they were barely audible.

Alice stood there, staring at her boy. Correction: no longer her emotional property, he was simply "the boy".

"You're a horrid boy." This time the words weren't so endearing as they were malevolent. "You never loved me, did you?"

All emotion was drained from him; his hair was ruffled and pushed back from his face, revealing the lack of sympathy. Charlie shrugged. "Love, I regret that it had to end this way, but I'm rather glad for your sake that it did. And, er--mine, also…I never even truly intended to wed you, darling, I'm sorry, but I didn't. It had to end somehow."

Her eyebrows knit as she tried to comprehend all of this new information. "But why would you do this?"

A rueful smirk flashed on his face as he moved closer to cup her chin in his hand. She looked up at him as he planted one last slow, soft kiss on her lips. He bent his head down to mutter, "I think you can guess the answer to that."

With that note, he slid his hand from her neck to her arm and then to her fingers. "Sorry, love." He turned to walk away, his fingers slipping through her lifeless ones.

Alice watched him walk away, her lifetime teachings of dignity and self-control finally being put to use as she fought the strong compulsion to chase after him and beat him with all of her strength.

That was when the huge raging whole in her chest ripped itself open, making it difficult to breathe. She inhaled and exhaled rapidly, forcing her lungs to keep functioning despite the intensive throbbing.

She sprinted blindly down the sidewalk. She had to escape.

**Hope you enjoyed it; please R&R. :)**


	10. Chapter 10

"_Alice, I'm truly sorry…but how can I fight love?"_

Dinah's enervated words played themselves over and over during the few minutes it took for Alice to tear through the streets back home.

This, along with the sight of Charlie holding Dinah close to him as he had done with Alice for so long, was enough to push her weeping on to bawling and it was an accomplishment that she was able to find her way back to her home; nothing was visible through such blurred eyes.

At the same time that this completely new form of grief overwhelmed her, Alice also felt utterly repulsed with herself. She had turned into the very exact weak, damsel-in-distress, so often portrayed in literature and plays, that she had previously detested.

_You let him go to bed with you…You let him do anything he wanted. Why, you daft girl? Because you were in _love_? You should have kept to your belief that love simply did not exist and you would not be in this bind. _

Alice threw open the door and rushed in, slamming it behind her and resting back on it, her chest heaving with uncontained, vociferous sobs. She reached up with trembling hands to push her hair back from her face and then cover her eyes.

The truth was, Alice knew she had been naïve and brash in every decision she had made since she met Charlie on that momentous day in the theater. But she still could not perceive why that boy would go through all of this trouble, simply for a handful (or more) moments of pleasure. Why had he felt the need to so thoroughly convince her that he was in love with her? Why did he have to play the part of the unconventional paramour so well?

_And why did you let yourself be taken in so deeply?_

A agonized moan ripped through Alice's throat and she slid her hands down her arms, replaying the last touches she would ever feel from the boy who she, almost feverishly, still loved.

Her breathing quickened as she let it sink in that there would simply be no more Charlie in her life.

It was unthinkable.

Just as yet another sob was surfacing itself, Alice heard the familiar tapping of heels on the house's wooden floors. She removed her hands from her face and saw her mother standing there, in her nightgown, her usually reserved expression contorted by concern. Alice prayed that she would leave quickly.

_The very last thing I need is a scolding for being foolish yet again._

But to Alice's surprise, the woman hurried forward to place a cool hand on her cheek. "Darling, what happened?"

Alice resisted the reflex she felt, wanting to shrug her mother away. Instead, she stood still and attempted to reduce the gasping coming from her. Eventually it lessened; it wasn't by much, but it was enough to make speaking a possibility. "I came upon Charlie and Dinah. Together."

Her mother's face displayed fury at her words. "The scoundrels!" She softened the lines of her face into concern once again. "Alice, dear, I'm so sorry. Would you like it if I sat with you for a bit?"

Alice wagged her head. "No. Mother, if you don't mind, I am going to take a stroll about the garden for a bit. Perhaps the night air will do me some good."

Her mother nodded slightly, taking her hand from Alice's face. "Very well, dearest. Try not to stay out for too long; you need some rest after such a terrible night."

Alice tipped her head in compliance and made her way past the woman to the back of the house, and out to the small garden.

**Short, I realize this. I just didn't want anyone who has been faithfully reading this (and if you have, I love you for it!) to think I have forgotten my story. I'm just internally debating about where to go from the last chapter.  
I had the idea for it, but I changed my mind.**


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